Most of our regulars are familiar with the Challenge Match, which is the annual (and only) fundraising event of the Cleveland Film Society does in order to keep presenting the Festival and our other, smaller events throughout the year. This year, the Skirball Foundation is matching all donations up to $32,000 ($1,000 for each year the Film Festival has been in existence). Tonight, though, the Festival Staff upped the stakes.

40 members of the staff -- myself included -- issued a $3,500 challenge of our own, challenging the audiences of the 7:00 round to make donations that we would then match. Groups of us went into all of the theaters and issued the challenge during the announcements before the screenings, and mentioned the various prizes we were offering, including a Festival poster signed by the entire staff.

Laura Blake snapped a great picture of some of us. That's me on the far left, with Cassie Widlak, our Target Marketing manager; Bill Guentzler, the god among men who programs the Festival; Debby Samples, director of Marketing and Membership and Volunteer Co-ordinator; Mike Littlejohn, another god among men who can seemingly do anything; and Steve Jaworski, our print traffic coordinator who battles like a superhero against delinquent delivery services and irascible customs agents every day. Even after the Skirball Foundation's challenge has been met, we -- and our fellows on the CIFF staff -- challenge you to keep going!

Every donation we get helps cover the growth of the Festival, and given the way you've all been breaking our records on a daily basis, I think it's clear that next year's Festival is going to have to be even bigger. So please, join us in making it even bigger, and even more amazing, than this year's festival has been. Stop by the Challenge Match table, and you can also get our cool buttons and sign up for spectacular prize drawings. No matter what, we all win.